Red Skies
by Kathrine
Summary: G1 AU, human-centric. A sudden fire in Chicago's city center and a strange mass text message prove to be an explosive Beginning of the End, literally. As the late afternoon sunshine slants towards dusk, humanity finds itself sorely pressed by strange alien beings, and a handful of Chicago's children struggle to make sense of it all.
1. Alexis I

**A/N: **This story is the first of a series from the same 'verse as _Menage_; a human-centric G1(ish) AU (with characters pulled from other 'verses) where the Decepticons awaken but the Autobots remain yet asleep. As such, there are no friendly giants to intervene when the 'Cons get greedy...

Like _Menage_, this story will remain largely human-centric with very little in the way of the Transformers themselves besides references and cameos. If you are offended or uninterested by this, you might want to pass on by. (If you don't mind the squishies, please pull up a seat! This story is for you.)

* * *

When the world ends, Alexis is – predictably – studying.

She's at Chip's house, of course; she spends every Friday afternoon under his tutelage. College is just a few short years away and she's determined to get a good start, even if she has to sacrifice brilliant sunny days such as this one. Summer is very nearly upon them and the May sunshine slants through the windows with warm golden fingers that creep across the pages of her textbook. Alexis turns the page, her fingers sliding over the sun-warmed paper thoughtfully as she waits for Chip to finish with his newest (and youngest) student.

The hum of computers blending with Chip's quiet, competent murmurs is something homey and welcoming. Alexis likes being here best; her own house is often silent and still with both her parents away at work for much of the time. And Chip is a fascinating instructor; the sheer amount that he _knows_ is staggering. Alexis hopes that she will reach his level someday soon. His youngest student is silent for once as he patiently instructs her in some finer point. Alexis spares them a brief glance as she slowly stretches out her hunched shoulders. Six-year old Sari is regarding the motherboard on the table with fierce concentration as Chip's fingers dance lightly over the component.

Alexis has to admit (if only to herself) that she hadn't been thrilled upon learning that she would have to share her thrice-weekly tutoring sessions with the little girl, but Chip is good at giving them both equal attention, and Sari, for all her enthusiasm (childishness, the cynical part of Alexis mutters, but she shushes it; Sari _is_ a child, after all) is just as eager to learn what Chip has to teach them.

She glances idly at the clock – the LED reveals a glowing red five-forty-seven in the afternoon – and then returns to her textbook. She scarcely notices the thunderous passage of the two jets overhead as she focuses on the past victories and defeats of humankind across the centuries. Later, she will wonder if anything would have changed if she had; she thinks not but even still, it seems somewhat dense to have not paid better attention to the beginning of the end.

* * *

**A/N:** Alexis is from Transformers Armada, Sari is from Transformers Animated, and Chip is from G1. This part of the series is actually nearly finished and will (hopefully!) update regularly. Told in bits and pieces because that's how I roll. Next bit will be updated tomorrow!


	2. Mikaela I

Mikaela doesn't learn the exact moment the world comes to an end until much later. She is much too busy stalking away from Stupid Jock Number Sixteen who has delusions of his own superiority.

"'Little bunny'," she mutters, all offended dignity, "like even!"

Mikaela wonders if she will ever find a decent boyfriend, but has long-since come to the conclusion that she has some kind of weird Men Are Pigs magnetic attraction that seems to work both ways; the men who are pigs are attracted to her and she – for some bizarre and totally unfair reason – is attracted right back.

Not all men are pigs, of course. Her father isn't, even if he _is_ in jail. Mikaela veers away from that thought. Raoul isn't a pig either. He's _Raoul_. She's known him since forever and can't imagine a world without him. She still wonders how different things would be if he was in the same high school. As it stands, he is not and she muddles through the pig-men and when things inevitably go sour Raoul is there with some crazy plan to Get Even With The Bastards. She thinks this is awfully sweet of him even if she knows that he will go with any excuse to make a crazy plan. Sometimes she thinks it would be much easier if she could just date him instead of make her way through all the pig-men.

But Raoul is her best friend and the idea of dating him is ridiculous. Just. _Ew_. Like dating a brother or something. So she is stuck with the pig-men and attempting to weed through them via trial and error. So far? Not working so well. If only she wasn't attracted to all those totally hot muscles…she's sure they have to do something to the brain to make all these super-hot guys super-douches.

In any case, she is walking across the campsite, fragrant pine needles crunching underneath her (fashionable) hiking boots, head held high and ignoring the whispers and laughter of her fellow students (and she is sure that _some_, if not all, are laughing at her, but what else do you expect when you publicly dump the JV quarterback on a district-wide school camping trip) when the jets pass overhead. So wrapped up in her righteous indignation, she doesn't even notice them.

Raoul is here somewhere with his own class. She will find him, she will vent, and then she will prevent him from doing something stupid about Stupid Jock Number Sixteen. Or maybe she'll help him. She hasn't quite decided yet.

Men are pigs but Raoul is Raoul and that makes all the difference.

* * *

**A/N: **I just really want Mikaela & Raoul to be Mechanic BFFs. THEIR FRIENDSHIP WOULD BE EPIC.

JV is for 'Junior Varsity'. (Just in case anyone was wondering, because I had to research that shit; I know nothing about American high school football. ...I know nothing about Canadian high school football either, come to think of it.)

Mikaela is from Transformers 2007 & 2009 and Raoul (when he gets here) is from G1.


	3. The End & Alexis II

There are two of them, hovering over the Detroit skyline in the bright sunshine. They gleam brilliantly, drawing admiring stares and exclamations from the tiny people passing underneath.

And then they open fire and nothing is the same ever again.

* * *

"What _was_ that?" Sari exclaims, rushing to the window to peer outside, her face alight with curiosity. Alexis is torn between pulling her away from the window (what if it happens again and the glass breaks?) and joining her to gawk. Chip, sensibly, wheels himself over to an end table and grabs the remote for the television.

"Sari," Alexis calls, making up her mind, "come and watch."

Sari trots over obediently, her eyes wide. "The downtown is full of smoke! I can't see anything inside it. D'you think it was a bomb?"

Chip is frowning as he switches on the television. "The news should tell us."

"Unless it knocked the cable out," Alexis mutters, but the picture comes on clear. It's some sort of movie, she guesses, because there's what looks like a robot face with glowing red eyes. She shudders; it's definitely a villain-character and she is sufficiently creeped out by the malevolence it emanates. The producers did a really good job. Chip changes the channel and the TV responds…but the same movie is playing on the next channel. And the next.

"Maybe whatever happened did something to the cable?" Alexis suggests, louder this time. Chip is still frowning and leaves it on the news channel, the gunmetal-grey red-eyed robot glaring at them from the screen.

"Maybe it's aliens!" Sari exclaims gleefully.

"Don't be ridic—" Alexis begins but Chip shushes her, all his attention on the screen.

The robot movie character is speaking and Alexis finally listens.

"—you will immediately cease all resistance to Decepticon rule and submit yourselves to our domination. Again, if your underdeveloped organic brains are incapable of understanding, we have taken out the city centers of twenty random cities across your pitiful world. If you do not submit, we will do much worse. You will now submit to Decepticon domination or be destroyed." Its metal lips shift into a parody of a smile and Alexis shivers despite herself. "I am your Lord and Master, Megatron. Do not displease me. The consequences will be…unpleasant."


	4. Mikaela II

"What the hell?" Mikaela glares at the text message on her phone. It's some weird shit along the lines of _We Have Invaded Your Planet, Fleshling, Now Submit Or Be Annihilated_. Obviously, someone has got a hold of her number and thinks he's being funny.

"Eww, seriously?" Mikaela looks up and spots a blonde frowning at her own cell phone. "What kind of stupid joke is this?"

Pretty soon it's evident that everyone has the same message. There are knots of students talking worriedly and someone on top of a rock wailing about how it's the end of the world. The adults are having a conference; some look worried and some are obviously angry. Mikaela is still scoffing; obviously this has to be a mass-prank. Aliens haven't invaded the Earth to turn them all into slaves.

Right?

"It's like _War of the Worlds_," someone says near her, and Mikaela turns to look.

It takes her a moment but she thinks she recognizes him. He's scrawny with a cap of curly dark hair and wide eyes. One of the geeks, she remembers, and that makes him someone who _might_ have a clue. She puts on her best smile and approaches him. "Wickety, right?"

He looks stunned that she's talking to him at all, but he quickly speaks up. "Witwicky," he corrects, his ears red and his expression shouting that he is trying desperately to suppress any annoyance and failing somewhat. Mikaela hides her amusement and can't help but think that he's a little cute in a dorky kind of way. "But uh, yeah. Sam. We're in History together. And Language Arts. And…"

"Right," she says, "Sam. What were you talking about just now?"


	5. Alexis III

"This is a joke," Alexis says, "a very bad, very _stupid_ joke."

There is nothing on TV but that freaky grey robot and his message; it seems to be on a loop on every channel. Alexis wants very badly to shut it off but Chip still holds the remote. His knuckles are white; he's holding onto it so tightly that Alexis is afraid it might break in his hands.

"So why is the city on fire?" Sari asks, her eyes large and her voice small. She doesn't seem to think that aliens are quite so exciting anymore.

"Smoke," Alexis counters shakily. "It's just smoke." She doesn't want to believe the alternative. It's too ridiculous. _And frightening_ says a little voice in her head but she ignores it. Aliens haven't invaded. They _can't_.

Chip, however, is looking grim. "There's a bomb shelter under the house," he says. "We can hide down there for awhile until this blows over."

"We're blowing this way out of proportion," Alexis protests. "We'll all look stupid when it turns out that it was just some massive prank and we're hiding in basement."

"Maybe," Chip says, "but it's better to be stupid and safe then incredulous and dead. We can laugh at ourselves later." Very carefully, he unwraps his fingers from their death grip around the remote and switches the TV off. Alexis is relieved to no longer hear that dark voice caressing the words that spell out destruction, and then mentally scolds herself for even thinking like that. "Alexis, run to the kitchen and grab the red bag underneath the sink and then meet us in the front room," Chip continues, placing the remote on the coffee table. "Sari, grab your bag and Alexis' and come with me. Let's get down to the bomb shelter just in case."


	6. Mikaela III

"It's an old sci-fi book," Sam explains, scrubbing the back of his head with a nervous hand. "They made a movie about it a few years ago. Well. It was remake, but…"

"So what does that have to with creepy cell phone messages?" Mikaela asks impatiently. Sam stutters a bit and shuffles his feet, and Mikaela silently counts to three and smiles at him again. "I'm guessing you have a point," she says sweetly, and Sam actually _blushes_. It's…no, it's not adorable. It's annoying. _Really_.

"Uh. Yeah." Sam finally starts, and scrubs the back of his head again. "Well, way back in the thirties they made a radio program about it. They did it like it was a news bulletin, almost like it was real. Apparently, a lot of people freaked out and thought it really _was_ real…that aliens from Mars were invading."

Mikaela folds her arms across her breasts and notices Sam swallow hard. She suppresses a smirk. _Boys are so easy to read_. "And you think this is like then? Some fake news program?"

"Well. Uh. N-not really. I mean. It kind of reminded me of it because of everyone freaking out if it's real or not and I mean if it's _not_ then yeah it's kinda like then except you know this isn't some radio show that people tune into, it's more of some huge massive hoax that could totally land the perp with jail time. Maybe. Uh. For fraud, or something. Disturbing the peace? Anyways, totally not funny and not cool. Right?" He says the last bit somewhat desperately and Mikaela would be amused if she wasn't just a little bit worried.

She bites her lip and says what she wants desperately to know, striving for nonchalance. "And if it's not? A hoax, I mean."

Sam gulps again and it's for a very different reason. "If it's real? I'd say we're screwed."


	7. Alexis IV

"Phone's dead," Alexis says quietly as she joins them, a large red first aid kit slung over her shoulder. "And my cell isn't getting any reception, either." She holds it up; text fills the screen. "Just a message from our 'alien overlords' about submitting to domination."

Sari doesn't even seem to notice; she's regained her enthusiasm with the floor opening up beneath them. "It's like there's a whole 'nother house down here!" she exclaims through the mass of hers and Alexis' bags that threaten to overflow from her arms. Chip grins a little despite himself as he takes the first aid kit from Alexis so she can rescue her bag from Sari's eager arms. Alexis clutches her brown satchel to her chest and Sari neatly slips the straps of the remaining bag – a bright yellow knapsack – over her shoulders. She peers into the yawning hole that had opened with the release of the lock beneath a rug. There are no stairs leading into the pit; instead a ramp extends below. Chip carefully wheels himself to the top of the ramp and starts the descent, Sari and Alexis following close behind.

"My granddad built this after the second World War," Chip tells them as he reaches into the first aid kit and pulls out a flashlight. He flicks it on and a steady beam lights the path below. "Dad upgraded it with a ramp and keeps it stocked with a bunch of cans and water and stuff as a 'just in case'. We should be good for awhile if…"

"If we need it." Alexis finishes. They come to the bottom, Sari jumping on to the concrete ground with a flourish. "How do we close it?"

"It's okay, I've got it," Chip says and wheels around to the side. He pulls up a lever that sticks out and up from underneath the ramp and the ramp smoothly returns to the ceiling, leaving the lever to dangle below it. "We just need to pull it down to get back up," Chip says. "The rug will hide the trapdoor from plain sight from anyone who might…"

"Yeah," Alexis says, trying not to think about why they'd need to hide. "That's pretty clever."

Chip shrugs. "Dad says he inherited his paranoia honestly," he says with a wry smile, and Alexis grins back.


	8. Mikaela IV

"Mikaela? Hey, where are you going?"

Mikaela looks over her shoulder at Sam who is still doggedly following her through the trees. _He's persistent if nothing else. _She thinks about telling him to leave her alone but decides against it. "To find a friend," she calls back.

"But…our classmates are back that way."

She throws another look over her shoulder, this time exasperated. "No, shit, Sherlock. He's not a classmate."

"Oh." Sam pauses and then jogs to catch up, stray sticks and old leaves crunching loudly under his sneakers. "Teacher?" He asks hopefully. "Responsible adult who is like a parental figure?"

Mikaela smiles briefly despite herself. "Neither. He's our age."

"_Oh_. Uh. B-boyfriend?"

"I don't work _that_ fast."

"Fa—oh. _Oh_. Uh. I didn't I mean, you were with Jock-b…uh, I mean Trent, right, uh…I didn't mean that…uh." Sam is floundering desperately as he trots behind her and Mikaela almost feels sorry for him. "Right. So uh. Boy friend. Who's not a boyfriend. I mean. A guy-friend."

"Yeah," Mikaela says, finally taking pity on him and struggling not to laugh. "A guy friend. His name's Raoul." She sees Sam attempting to work that name out and she shakes her head, increasing her pace. "If you're coming, you better keep up," she calls over her shoulder, and she grins as Sam curses and flounders after her.

If it's the end of the world, she at least wants Raoul at her back.


	9. Alexis V

The basement is dark and musty, and very, very quiet as the trapdoor closes. At least the dust isn't too thick; someone obviously comes down to clean every so often. "I don't suppose you have a radio down here?" Alexis asks. There's a loud crash and she suppresses a yelp, looking around wildly for the cause.

"Found it!" Sari's voice is muffled, and Chip swings the flashlight in the direction it comes from. It lights up a jumble of cardboard boxes with a yellow-clad arm rising triumphantly from the middle of the pile, holding an old, battered radio.

"Sari!" Alexis exclaims, hurrying over to pull the boxes off of the little girl. Sari's arm is still shakily supporting the old radio, and Alexis takes it from her with a sigh before pulling her up and out of the mess. "Honestly, you should be more careful. You could've broken something!"

"Sorry, Chip," Sari says, and Chip laughs.

"I think Alexis was more worried you'd break yourself," he says gently as he takes the radio from Alexis and hands her his flashlight. "I'll get this working if you two could find the lantern for me, please."

"Without knocking anything else over," Alexis admonishes, and Sari blinks guileless eyes at her.

"Who, me?" she chirps, and skips over to the pile of boxes to start searching.

Alexis gives Chip a long-suffering look, but he just chuckles, rifling through the first aid kit for another flashlight. Heaving a long, put-upon sigh, Alexis starts searching the shelves.


	10. Mikaela V

Raoul is leaning casually against a tree when they find him, his beat-up leather jacket slung over his shoulder as he messes around with his phone. "Yo, Mikki," he calls, "you still running around lookin' like jail-bait, huh."

"And you still look like a _Bedazzler _reject." Mikaela retorts, smiling. "I'm pretty sure rhinestones went out of style in the 80s."

Raoul mimes a shot to the heart, staggering back a bit. "You wound me. Also, that you know what a _Bedazzler_ even is will never stop being hilarious. Who's the dude?"

"This is Sam. We have classes together." She glances back at Sam, who is clearly boggling at Raoul if his impression of a goldfish is anything to go by. "Sam, this is Raoul. We've been friends since we were in diapers." Sam squeaks at Raoul something that sort of sounds like 'hello'. Mikaela really doesn't get why people get so freaked out around Raoul; the guy's a big softy.

Raoul looks Sam up and down. "Not your usual type," he observes, grinning at her, and Mikaela resists the urge to smack him.

"Shut up; it's not like that. Anyways, you got reception on your phone?"

"Nope. Just the freaky-ass message from our alien overlords." He waves his cell around; Mikaela has seen it before but she can tell Sam is going bug-eyed at the thing without even looking at him from his sharp indrawn breath. Raoul always gets the neat toys. "Guessing you guys got it too?"

"Sam thinks it's like some old radio broadcast based on a book." Mikaela offers.

"_W-war of the Worlds_," Sam manages to say.

Raoul laughs. "Think we're gonna hafta start watching out for –what was it, those big spider things…"

Sam finally cracks a smile. "Tripods? Hope not, those were pretty creepy, with the gigantic legs and the human tissue harvesting and…uh…I'm gonna stop now, I think."

"I like my tissue where it is," Mikaela says, "on my body." Sam nods rapidly and then flushes bright red. Raoul stifles a snort and Mikaela grins.


	11. Alexis VI

"I found an old glass lantern as well," Alexis says as she offers Chip a prosaic battery-run lantern.

"Kerosene," Chip offers, "but this will work great, thanks, Alexis."

"I helped too," Sari pipes up, and Chip smiles at her.

"Thank you, too," he says solemnly, and Sari beams. He flicks it on and the lantern light chases the shadows back towards the corners as the basement lights up with a soft, white glow.

"That's much better," Alexis says, satisfied, and Chip hums his agreement.

"We'll just put this on a table. Alexis, if you could get that folding table and set it up, please?"

The radio in Chip's lap is making angry crackling sounds, and he balances the lantern on his armrest to free up his hands to fiddle with it. Sari takes the lantern and holds it high so the light shines on him; Chip nods his thanks and starts working the knobs.

Alexis heads to the back and wrestles the table forward; it's big and awkward but thankfully lightweight as she manhandles it back to the circle of light. She sets it up just as Chip gets to a working station.

_"—not a prank," _the announcer says, and Chip sets the radio on top of the table beside the lantern Sari had just put down. "_Attacks have been reported all over the world just before satellite feeds went down. Besides Chicago, we have confirmed attacks in New York City and Los Angeles. Overseas, London, Paris, Tokyo, Seoul, and Hong Kong were all confirmed as well, and possibly Brussels, Sydney, and Rome. Beyond that, we just don't know."_

_"Fucking giant alien robots," _another announcer says. _"Yeah, yeah, no swearing on the air, but if any situation called for this kind of language…"_

_"The National Guard rallied a defense, but…"_

_"They fucking shot them out of the sky!"_

Alexis looks over at Sari. "I'm not really sure she should be listening to this…"

Sari puffs up. "Don't worry, I'm a big girl. I've heard _lots_ of bad words at Dad's labs."


	12. Mikaela VI

The clouds above are tinted in brilliant oranges and reds as the sun sets behind the trees. Mikaela watches as the sky slowly darkens while the teachers and adults quietly bicker amongst themselves on what to do.

"I hope my sister's okay," Raoul remarks out of the blue. "She had a tutoring session today."

Mikaela glances back at the adults, some of whom aren't quite so quiet anymore. No one seems to be deciding anything anytime soon. And…_if it's really the end of the world, do I _want _to be stuck with my classmates?_ _ Most of them are idiots or assholes_. She turns back to the boys, her hands on her hips and one eyebrow cocked. "Maybe we should go find her."

Sam stares at her. "I don't think the teachers would like that," he points out.

Raoul grins. "I won't tell if you don't," he says.

"Where's your sense of adventure?" Mikaela adds. "Besides, do you _really_ want to stick around here and wait for whoever's behind that message to come find us?"

"How are we even going to get back? We're out in the middle of nowhere!" Sam waves his hands around for emphasis, and Mikaela and Raoul hurriedly shush him, throwing glances over their shoulders at the adults.

"By car," Raoul says.

"You're going to _steal_ someone's _keys_?"

"We're going to _borrow_ someone's _car_," Mikaela says quietly, a plan already forming in her mind. "We'll bring it back."

"Eventually," Raoul adds, and Sam splutters at both of them.


	13. Alexis VII

"I'm hungry," Sari announces over the latest semi-hysterical rants coming from the radio. "Is it dinner time yet?"

Alexis glances at her cell phone, which still might not have service, but _does_ tell the time well enough. "It _is_ getting late," she says in surprise. "It must be almost dusk already."

"Well, that's easily fixed." Chip rolls himself over to a closet and opens the door; inside, cans and dry goods and bottles and bottles of water are stacked up, the shelves full and reaching the ceiling. "Gourmet cooking it's not," Chip says as he pulls out a can of soup from one of the lower shelves, "but it'll fill us up, at least."

"Tomato!" Sari cheers. "Where's the microwave?"

"I'm afraid we're roughing it tonight," Chip says ruefully. "Why don't you help me set up the camp stove?"

As Sari chatters happily about the camping trip her older brother is apparently on and how he'd promised to take her on a trip in the really cool car he's been fixing up once he gets his license next year, Alexis eyes the stocked pantry thoughtfully. There seems to be a lot, but how long will it last? _And how long will it _need_ to last?_ It might just be the radio program might be getting to her, but it's hard not to worry, even with Sari's enthusiastic babbling and Chip's quiet, reassuring responses.

Well. Maybe it's okay to do a little quiet worrying on her own. Alexis starts to take silent stock of the pantry contents as Chip and Sari cook dinner.


	14. Mikaela VII

"Where did you even learn to hot-wire a car?" Sam asks Raoul incredulously.

Raoul, his hands busy with the ignition, doesn't even look at Mikaela. "My dad's an engineer," he only says. "Real hands on kinda guy. He taught me lots of stuff."

It's not _really_ a lie. Dr. Sumdac really is an engineer, and he really did teach Raoul a few things. But the one who taught Raoul how to hot-wire a car is Mikaela, who learned from her dad when he used to take her out on runs, before the cops got him.

And Mikaela knows that Raoul knows how much she hates people knowing about her father's checkered past. He always does look out for her, and she loves him just a little bit more for that.

Sam makes a soft scoffing sound, and Mikaela narrows her eyes. "You know," she points out, "you don't _have_ to come with us."

Sam, one eye still on the path that leads to camp in case any curious onlookers come by, stiffens. "Maybe not," he says, "but if I let you two ride off into the sunset, fifty years from now I'd be wondering what would've happened if I'd had the guts to get in the car."

"Provided we're still alive fifty years from now and not crushed under alien domination," Raoul points out.

"Hey. Hey, man, not cool. Let's try to be positive here!"

"All right then, Mr. Positive," Raoul says as the engine roars to life, "get in the car then. If you've got the guts, I mean."

Sam gives the path one last look before hopping in the back. "Hey, you _do_ know how to drive, right?" he asks nervously. "Because I'm pretty sure we're all under the legal age to get a license. Just putting that out there."

Raoul just grins and throws the car in reverse. "Better buckle up!" he says cheerfully as Sam yelps. "It's gonna be a bumpy ride!"

* * *

**A/N: **"Fifty years from now I'd be wondering what would've happened if I'd had the guts to get in the car" is a nod to Sam's line to Mikaela in the 2007 Transformers movie: _"Fifty years from now, when you're looking back at your life, don't you want to be able to say you had the guts to get in the car?"_


	15. The Beginning

Even with the lantern light, the basement walls seem darker, somehow, and closer than they were before. The radio is turned down low and the dinner dishes are put away.

"I'm not scared," Sari says stubbornly, her arms wrapped tightly around herself. She has become more subdued the longer they stay down here, so far from the bright sunshine of before. Has it really only been a couple hours since then?

"I am," Alexis replies. _What if this really is the end? Mom, Dad, are you okay? Are _we _okay? Can they really not find us down here? _Chip lays a hand on her shoulder, and Alexis gives him a weak smile.

Sari considers this for a long moment and then pulls herself into Alexis' lap. "I'll protect you," she informs her seriously, and Alexis feels like laughing and crying at the same time. Instead she gathers Sari's small warm body into her arms and holds her tight.

"We'll protect each other," Chip says softly, and his words are a promise.


End file.
